Between 1647 and 1649 the deepening class consciousness of the exploited masses in England was transformed into a revolutionary movement that for a time challenged the very foundations of the state the rising bourgeoisie was trying to consolidate.

The first part of this article (in WR 323) by a close sympathiser of the ICC, examined the conditions for the bourgeois revolution in Britain and the lessons of the class struggle within decaying feudal society. This part looks in more detail at the political development of the class struggle in the early period of the English civil war leading to the formation of the Leveller movement.

By the 14th century the foundations of the feudal system had been undermined throughout western Europe, creating the conditions for the emergence of a new mode of production.This article examines how the conditions for the bourgeois revolution in England matured within decaying feudal society.